Become the Monster
by MunchyLevelShenanigans
Summary: "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." Friedrich Nietzsche - Jesse met Jack on a terrible night, in the swamps of Louisiana.


Hello all! It's been *checks watch*... Too damn long! Anyway, I post most of my stories to Ao3 now, but decided to update some of my more PG rated fics here for everyone. One of the reasons I left was because FF went on a ban happy trot thru the smut fics and took a lot of them down. An author I greatly admired was one of those unfortunet people that got everything taken down and then banned. No one could find them after that.

But hey, at least FF will let you post super gorey shit, am I right? ... don't at me...

This is my submission for day four of Mc76 Week. The prompt was "Protect/Sacrifice". I had started this crossover au on it's own before I decided to use it for the ship week, simply because it fit the day's theme. As it stand tho, this might become a series of one shots, exploring the world and lore of Hunt: Showdown with the Overwatch characters thrown in. Which, btw, you should totally check out. The game is a PVP Horror fps with the aesthetics of post-civil war southern America. It fits quite well into Jesse and Jack's aesthetics~

As a side note, you do not need to know the lore of Hunt: Showdown in order to fully understand what's going on. However, I should mention that there is some slight canon divergence. Unlike in Hunt, where every character has a power called Dark Sight, in this au Dark Sight is a rare power that few hunters possess, and has to be taught by those that already know how to use it. It also allows hunters the ability to banish monsters. However, there is a price to using it, as the user will fall into insanity the more they use the power.

(If you're interested in the Lore of Hunt, there is a wiki site for it now, as well as the game's site. They do a lot first person/found writing stuff, if you're interested in that.)

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

* * *

Jesse met Jack on a terrible night, in the swamps of Louisiana. The rain had pelted against his opened, festering wound as he lay in a puddle of mud and blood. His partner dead and gone. Reduced to a pile of limbs and organs, a delectable feast for a horde of undead creatures. Crows circled his body, waiting for the moment his stare would go vacant and his body stiff before having their way with what was left of him.

"Lacroix?" he called, mouth filling with bile, " _Lacroix!"_ Tears stung his eyes, but the rain hit them as it washed his grime covered face. The coppery stench of decay hit his nose with a gust of wind. He choked on the blood and vomit and barely turned his head in time to stop the gagging.

Amélie would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself.

Then came a light, bright an insistent.

"Who's there?" The voice of his angel sounded deep, like grinding pits of gravel. He groaned, the noise weak against the pelting rain. The light moved and he was blinded.

"Damn, another one lost." The light said. It moved lower, closer. "I'm not religious enough to know last rights, sorry." The light mumbled.

"Forgiven." Was all he could muster. The light jerked.

"Well, I'll be damned…" The light moved and in its place sat a man with white hair and striking blue eyes.

Jesse desperately grabbed onto him, tried to pull him close with the one arm he had left now. It startled the old man, "Lacroix?" he tried weakly.

"I'm assuming that's your partner…" The stranger said, then looked around. "I'm afraid there's no one else here but the bodies that litter this land. I'm sorry." Jesse let his tears fall, let the rain wash them away. His grip then went slack before falling back into the mud.

"Let me die then." he rasped.

"I'm afraid I can't do that either. Not many hunters left. Need all that we can get." And with that, the stranger picked him up and carried him away into the darkness. Away from what was left of Gérard, away from the fires and bodies, away from the monsters.

* * *

He awoke some days later, arm gone and a new partner waiting patiently beside the hospital bed.

"The name's Jack Morrison by the way," he said as a way of greeting, as he dropped the newspaper he had in hand, the headline of Gerard Lacroix's sudden disappearance facing him. It left him hollow.

"Heard you were an old apprentice of Gabriel Reyes. Need more hunters like him." Jack paused, looking at Jesse's sullen face staring at the paper.

Jesse didn't see it, but he heard the shuffle of clothes as Jack reached forward and took his chin in a firm grip. He brought his head up, made him look into stormy eyes that could tare him asunder and build him back up again and said, "I saved your life, McCree, now your life is mine." Jack's eyes continued to bore into him. "The AHA pretty much said so."

And Jesse didn't really have the energy to complain.

* * *

Years later, Jesse found himself trudging through the same swamplands of Louisiana. The beast they chased was still just as elusive. Amélie was still unforgiving. And Jack was still the guardian angel that continued to save his damned soul.

"What's your Dead Eye say, Jess." he heard Jack grunt.

Jesse let his eyes close and his inner lids open. Jack's eyes glowed bright like the north star, but the flicker of blue towards the barn was brighter. A sign of the beast presence whether old or current, was still better than going in half-cocked and blind.

"It's in the barn, top floor. Might be an old nest." Jesse said. He heard Jack hum as he dropped his Sights.

"Alright then, let's comb the sides first, clear out what we can, then see if we can't find an opening." Jesse followed Jack around the barn, picking off the unfortunate souls that plagued these dead lands. The stench had become familiar after so long but still hit him like a steam engine every time he entered one of these dead towns.

Jesse's teacher, a priest by the name of Gabriel Reyes, once told him how people ended up as those abominations, how they went from normal people to flesh-craving monsters. What Father Gabriel had told him kept him up for three nights straight, hoping that he would never end up like that. A walking corpse whose only purpose was to consume the flesh of his fellow man.

However, he was a grown man now, had seen the world for what it was and came out of the fire and brimstone with his life enough times that it no longer phased him. He knifed the undead without remorse because as Father Gabriel taught him, these poor creatures were already dead.

Some people though, they saw different.

Jack clicked his tongue at the unfortunate soul he had just knifed to the ground. Its head locked in a metal cage to prevent what little teeth it had from tearing at people's skin and meat. "People need to realize that these things aren't human anymore. They can't save them."

"It's human nature to be sentimental, Jack." Jesse refuted because it was the truth. It's the reason he's still following Jack around like a lost puppy.

"Sentimentality is the scorn of man. It only causes more trouble." Jack grunted before moving on. Jesse once heard that Jack used to be more optimistic. More bright-eyed about the future and caring about the wellbeing of strangers.

Jesse couldn't really see it. In fact, it only made him wonder where that left him in Jack's cynical world.

* * *

"Spider to the left!" Jesse shot with his revolver, hitting the beast but not bringing it down. He was quick with the draw, but the monster was quicker.

He could hear it scuffling across the ceiling with its many legs as it cried out in pain. Spindly legs that fluttered against rusted metal and splintering wood. " _Jack!_ " he called out. He heard the pattering grow louder to his left, catching the sight of long, sharp fangs out of the corner of his eye.

"Here!" Jesse spotted a lantern thrown across the room. It burst into flames on impact, lighting the spider up like a stuck pig. It's unearthly shriek rattle his bones. " _Now_ Jesse!" He heard Jack yell.

Jesse aimed his six-shooter, the monster much better to see as it withered in pain, and fired all six shots. When the dust and fire settled, the spider lay dead in a heap of charred limbs.

"I'll keep watch over the doors while you banish this ugly son of a bitch." he watches Jack run up the stairs, grabbing another lantern along the way.

"You got it, soldier," Jesse responded before staring down at the beast. He raised his hand and opened his eyes to a world shrouded in black and white. Specks of white ash flew around and mingled with static blue light like a storm as the creature dissolved into a black pitch. He heard the sounds of thunder and screams as the creature's damned soul fought back against the hymns.

"How long?" he heard Jack ask from far away, voice muffled in his ears.

"'Bout another minute. It's fighting me." he grunted. The life of the spider thrashed against his hold, scrambling to free itself from the gates of Hell.

"Well hurry it up, we've got company."

This wasn't something that could be rushed. Yet Jesse pushed on, fighting the creature's soul at every turn. His Dead Eye sent a dull ache through his skull in beats that matched his heart. It tired him. Suddenly the corpse faded, nothing left but charred bones and two small clumps that would make up their bounty.

"Jack, It's done!" Jesse heard the sounds of gunshots echoing outside the barn as he grabbed both bounties. His body was exhausted, having rushed through a banishing. He eased himself up and trudged up the stairs. His legs felt like lead weights when he finally found Jack. He handed a clump to the older man, knowing that if at least one of them didn't make it the other still had half a bounty.

"There's only two, west behind the mill." Jack informed him, "They're using a lot of ammo, being reckless. Take it they're new blood."

"Better show 'em how it's done then," Jesse replied with a smirk, snagging a box of ammo and carefully reloading. He and Jack burst through the doors, out into the yard. Jesse saw flashes of lights from gunfire, quickly ducking behind a bloated horse corpse.

He heard the howling of mongrels out in the fields along with the squeal of a pig. That couldn't be good…

"Think I hear a Butcher!" he hollered, hoping that Jack could hear him above the gunfire. He took a peak and was bet by a young hunter running for his life from a spray of bullets. Jesse clicked his tongue, "Ameture…"

"Jesse! We got company!" he caught Jack's form on a walkway. The nails of a sticky bomb glistened against the moonlight like a star as Jack threw it across the yard. A barrage of bullets hit the wooden panels of the barn and Jesse cursed as he darted for more solid cover.

The hellish sound of a dying pig came closer. Definitely a Butcher then. Jesse took a couple of pot shots, hoping that something would hit, but only managed to make him into the new target. The bags of grain and corn he took shelter behind burst open as hunters took aim and shot.

"Fucking Hell! _Jack!_ " Jesse peaked up just in time to see a second sticky bomb land behind a broken carriage and explode. A dismembered hand went flying in his direction before landing behind him. "Jesus…" Jesse shook his head before taking another look.

He saw a silhouette against the fire of the destroyed carriage. The hulking form splintered with sharp rods and sticks across its back and shoulders like there had been an attempt to pin it down and study it. A hook hung from its arm, glowing like the embers that danced around it.

" _Butcher!_ " Jesse called out just as the creature shrieked something unholy.

He rolled out from cover and ran to a set of stairs, hoping to group up with Jack to take the beast down. A fire burst behind him and he turned to see the monster race towards him, hook dragging along the ground and catching fire. It beady, black eyes locked on his as it charged with purpose.

He fired his gun, aiming for the pig-like head in hopes to stagger the Butcher and give him time to reach the stairs. He heard Jack fire from above, but it did little to distract the creature. Jesse managed to roll himself away just as the beast crashed through a set of crates, the old wood bursting into flames while the creature turned back around.

"Throw a mine at it!" Jesse called out, body nearly tripping on itself he was so exhausted. He shouldn't have rushed that banishing.

"I don't _have_ any more!" he saw Jack run across a wooden catwalk as he fumbled his way around in circles, keeping the lumbering beast away from him. "But we don't have time! We need to get to the drop-off—" A loud shot echoed across the yard.

Jack fell to the ground with a thump against the mud and blood. Everything seemed to slow down for Jesse all at once as he watched his companion hit the ground. The sounds around him were muffled by the sudden stop of his body, his heart beating frantically as it tried to keep up. His world seemed to tilt as he stared at Jack's prone form. Did the beast catch up and fling him into the ground? Was he going finally going to die now? Was he going to end up like Gérard?

Jack's white hair began to stain with red, and in that moment, he found that he didn't quite care about anything else.

His vision became dark and the living lit up while the dead blended into the darkness. White and black with sparks of holy blue fire danced all around him, pulsing with the beat of his heart. The scattered lights ahead of him told of a group of hunters approaching. Searching. Trying to fulfill their greed.

A bolt of lightning hit his body from above, signifying the bounty he held onto. Jack had the same light show, but he wasn't looking at the raging storm. He was looking at Jack's light, still as bright and insistent as it was when he first met him. Jack would be fine. He would live to see another day.

Jack's light suddenly flickered.

Jesse screamed.

His roar echoed into the nothingness of the Sights, muffled by a never-ending black void. He saw the ripple of his anger as it swirled within the storm above him. It reached out and gripped the living and the dead around him, wrapped its tendrils like he was going to choke the life out of everything near.

The Butcher, the mongrels, the carcasses that littered the ground, they all called to him. Sang his praise like he was their God. And he answered.

" _I hunger._ "

* * *

Jack awoke slowly, pain radiating up his shoulder like a flame. He remembered seeing a flash of light from a scope but didn't react in time. Damn sniper had taken the shot and Jack could do nothing about it, yet here he was. Alive. His stubborn body never knowing when to just give up.

He groaned, feeling the world shift and tilt against his will. "Jess?" he managed to say. Was he being dragged or carried? Hard to tell, everything was so dark. The silence of night interrupted by the chirping of bugs and distant screams.

"I've got you, Jack," Jesse said. His voice was off. Sounded like it was echoing off the walls of a cavern. "Just a bit further to the extraction point."

"Jess?" Jack tried again, "What happened?" he heard himself croak as he tried to form words. His body refused to move.

"Sniper. I didn't catch them, but I got the group they were with."

"Not that, I meant— Wait, what—" Jack's vision became bright as he and Jesse hit the water, rippling waves of moonlight reflected off the surface, blinding him. The water was cold and in the back of Jack's mind, he was grateful for it. Meant that his legs still worked. He straightened up, but his shoulder flared in hot pain.

Jesse caught him as he buckled, "Careful now."

Jack squirmed, wanting to stand on his own two feet. He managed to wrench himself from Jesse's hold, "What— what do you mean ' _you got the group_ '? How many were with the sniper?" he ground out. This could be bad. The association only let a max of two hunters pair up at a time. Did the regulations change? If not, then what were those people doing there? Was it an attempt on their lives?

"It's fine Jack, they're gone." He heard Jesse slosh through the water towards him. His voice still echoing out in the open.

Jack twisted against the pain to face his partner, "What the Hell do you _mean_ gone—" The words died in his throat.

Jesse's eyes were white as stars, rolled back onto his skull. Pairs of glowing eyes danced around him in various sizes and heights. Mongrels and walking corpses huddled around him like he was their leader, their _God_. A lumbering figure approached, waddling to a stop just behind Jesse. The hook in its mangled hand burned bright like fire and brimstone. They all reeked of death and drying rot that not even the waters could hide. The moonlight shined off of them like the ripples in the water. They were shining, baptized in blood and muck by the man that stood before him.

And they all stared at Jack. Focused solely on him. A hive mind linked to one man.

"Jesse… Jesse, what did you do?" Jack tried to hide the horror on his face. He had read cases of this happen to many people. Had seen it happen to his closest friend. The Sight was as much a divine gift as it was a curse. All those who wielded it would suffer the same fate. Either they died young or lived to become the very creatures they hunted down.

Jesse took a step forward, hand reaching out and blood trickled down Jesse's mouth and chin, "I need you, Jack. I can't lose another partner… I just _can't._ " Jesse's voice spoke of anguish and regret. "Please understand—" The words echoed like Gabe's did seven years ago. They trembled against the dark void of the Sights, crying for help while the power consumed their host whole.

"Jesse, you can't do this! You let the Sights take too much!" Jack clutched at his shoulder, feeling the pain bloom. He watched blood drip into black waters, shattering the moon's reflection with it's ripples. " _God_ , please tell me you didn't—" he heard the water slosh, "Don't think I won't kill you if you don't stop right there." There was a pause, the silence stretching between them. Jesse knew he wasn't making empty threat.

Jesse stood stock still. The only movement from him was a drop of blood dripping from his nose and eyes. A bad sign. "I'm sorry Jack. Please…" he took another step and the creatures followed, "I was so _hungry…_ "

"You get those fucking things away from me, Jesse." Jack threatened. He watched the man halt before he turned and looked at his flock. The quiet night became deafening all at once, not even the bugs that crawled in festering wounds would sing.

Suddenly the creatures were all shrieking, unholy sounds tumbling from their broken mouths as each one of them responded to Jesse's heed. They began attacking each other, ripped at flesh and bone. They tore at each other's bodies like paper. Pus and blood mixed with splashing water. A grotesque soup that Jack was thankful that he could not see. The dark waters hiding it all like a blanket that covered the faces of the dead.

The sounds slowly died down into gurgles and whimpers as the carcasses floated in fractured moonlight. The smell only seemed to get worse as the festering bodies mixed with stagnant water and algae. Jack sight nearly blurring out as he watched a few sink into the darkness.

Jesse turned back, the light of the moon reflecting back into his scleras, making them glow like stars "I can't lose you, Jack. I need you." his voice wavered on a broken whisper, "You're the only person I got left in this world."

Jack swallowed the bile that threatened to come up. The smell, the bodies, he shook his head and looked away, "I know, Jess. I know."

"I'm sorry." Jesse said with anguish written across his face, "I saw your light flicker and I— I lost control." Panic creeped into his words, a desperateness that Jack recognized all too well.

He stepped forward, resting his hand on the back of Jesse's neck. "Shh… I know." he brought their foreheads together. There was a comfort in the coolness he felt from the contact of skin. "Just— Just let me _think_ , okay? I'll fix this somehow," he said, like the sentimental bastard he was.

Jesse nodded, pressing his body closer, like the very idea of separating from Jack would kill him. Maybe it would. The space between them stunk of rot and stale waters, but they breathed it in all the same, syncing they're bodies up to a rhythm that seemed all their own.

When they finally pulled away, Jesse's brown eyes looking at him like he was some kind of messiah that would save his soul. Then he went limp in Jack's hand, nearly collapsing into the murky waters. Jack just managed to hold onto him with his good arm before he could fall into void like waters below. He stared down at Jesse's face. Noticed how peaceful it looked despite the horrors of this waking world.

It's then that Jack admitted, perhaps for the first time in a long while, that he couldn't lose Jesse either. Because despite it all, despite the growing monster he was becoming, Jack still needed Jesse as much as Jesse needed him.

"Don't worry Jess. I'll find a way to fix everything. I won't let them take you like they took Gabe," Jack said as he dragged Jesse out of the black waters.


End file.
